PS 3513 
.R654 
B5 
1922 
Copy 1 




Blue Cross 



"g 



AN ALLEGORY 



1 



I 



rH£ "Bj^e CK9SS 

An allegory 

of 

The third century 

after 

The Landing of the Pilgrims 
by 
Robert Malory Qrey 



/ 






Copyright 1922 
by 
6YRON J. KING COMPANY 
Mt. Oliver Station 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 



3CU696664 

DEC 19 '22 



^ C 



/ 



■"the words of the accusation 
have disappeared." 



m 



THE Bj^UE cross 




NE afternoon, late in autumn, a 
stranger was seen walking down a 
dusty road that leads from a sea- 
coast town into the heart of France. 
1 As he passed through the villages 
and hamlets, older men and women paused 
in their work and studied the stranger. A 
mass of snow-white hair fell from his well- 
shaped head. His eyes, well you could almost 
guess that they were blue ! And did not the 
people notice that he was strikingly tall? At 
times he halted at a town-pump for a drink 
of fresh water. He spoke little French and 
would tarry just long enough to say "Hello !" 
to the boys and girls that crowded about to 
touch his large hand and to look into his 
kind blue eyes. So, when he left, they 
watched him for a moment — every one of 
them — then ran to their play and forgot him. 
They did not know whom they had entertained 
that day. 

SEVEN 



^«^ 



The stranger travelled very far, and on the 
third day, just as the sun stood directly over- 
head, he came to the forks of the road. He 
stopped, put on his glasses, and read the di- 
rections on the guide post. One arrow was 
painted blue and pointed : "To Jerusalem." 
The other, painted red, pointed : '*To Ver- 
sailles." The stranger put his glasses in a 
silver case, and with a quick decisive step 
walked in the direction of the red arrow. 

This fork soon entered a forest. The trav- 
eller had not gone far when suddenly a strange 
woman stepped from behind a tree and halted 
him. ''Whither?" she demanded in a tone 
that took the breath out of him. For a mo- 
ment he did not speak. Then he answered. 
"Madam, I am on my way to a meeting of 
the Four Kings." "Aha, aha !" she laughed 
in a hollow tone. "Meeting of the Kings ! 
Aha! Aha! So you are a King?" And she 
made light of him and laughed still more. 
"Sir," she said, putting a long bony hand on 
his shoulder, "stay away from that castle. It's 
a spider's web. The three Kings are the 
spiders. If you enter, you will be the fly, 
and a dainty meal for them you will be !" 
Before the King could question her, she scur- 
ried across the road with her crooked stick 
and disappeared in the thickets of the forest. 

EIGHT 



The gaunt form of the traveller moved with 
a slackened step down the forest road. 

While he was thus musing over the fear 
that the skinny hag had aroused in him, he 
was startled ! Another woman, uglier than the 
first, stood before him. He shrank back, 
clutched the bosom of his jacket with both 
hands and stared at the shrivelled hag. 
"Whither?" she shrieked, and the forest 
echoed before the King could collect himself. 
Then, with a feigned readiness of answer, he 
replied quickly : "Madam, I am on my way 
to a meeting of the Four Kings." In a voice 
that the King never forgot, she warned : 
"Turn back ! Turn back ! You will not fare 
well if you enter the den of robbers and 
thieves. Turn back !" On the last word she 
bowed, as if she regarded the King highly, 
leaned on her crooked stick and hobbled away 
into the gloom of the forest. 

Just at the edge of this forest, where the 
road leads out into a broad, open country, the 
King came to an abru]Dt bend in the road, and 
beheM, in the very middle of the road, a bony 
figure outlined against the sky. A cold sweat 
came over the King. "Whither?" she cried 
in a tone so weird that it seemed like a warn- 
ing from an empty tomb. "Madam, I am on 
my way to a meeting of the Four Kings." 

NINE 



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"Sir," she said, "seek not the welfare of thine 
own peo]:)le in a foreign land. Seek it where 
thy people dwell. Stay away from the castle ! 
It is a trap set for a slow bear ! Stay away !" 
Then, like the other two hags, she leaned on 
her crooked stick, hobbled over the gravelly 
road, into the recesses of the forest. 

The bine eyes of the King followed the trail- 
ing hem of her cloak until it disappeared be- 
hind a clump of the poisonous hemlo«.k. Then 
he left the road and sat down on a large 
white rock to rest. He turned in the direction 
from which he had come. Then he glanced 
toward the deep gloom of the forest whither 
the forms of the three witches had vanished. 
He looked ahead of him — down the road. He- 
rested a long while, for he Vvas struggling 
within himself. He arose, swung into the 
road, and soon the white rock lay far behind 
him. 

About an hour before sundown, of that 
same day, he beheld a wall of red rock rising 
before him in the distance. As he came nearer, 
it grew so high that it made him dizzy to look 
where the top touched the sky. The road, 
buried deep in white sand, turned abruptly to 
the right at this point and followed the side 
of the steep cliff for more than a mile. Then 
it led the royal traveler into an underground 

TEN 



passage, through the heart of the great hills, 
to the other side. What a picture, as he came 
out from under the overhanging rock to a 
bridge of white stone that spanned the valley 
hundreds of feet over the silvery rivulet be- 
low ! He stopped here, threw down his leath- 
ern knapsack and leaned to rest for a while on 
the parapet. From this commanding elevation 
his large eyes swept the country. The beauty 
of the, vast, unending undulations of hill and 
plain overawed him ! The whole world seemed 
to lie before him, young and green as on the 
morning of creation! A rich, beautiful gar- 
den ! The King was intoxicated. The next mo- 
ment he saw the ivy-covered battlements jut- 
ting the watery-green of the skyline. The glow 
of the evening sun burnished the stained glass 
of the ancient abode of the French kings. He 
hastened over the bridge. As the castle gar- 
dens came into view, a flock of white pigeons 
winged their flight low over a wall of shapely 
evergreens, and disappeared behind the turrets 
of the castle tower. The sudden barking of 
Danish dogs in the royal kennels roused the 
drunken King from his dream. He was in 
Versailles. 

ELEVEN 




SURPENTINE driveway led up 
to the entrance of the castle door. 
Here the Master of Ceremonies, 
surrounded by a retinue of serv- 
ants, greeted the King with much 
grace, saying, "In the name of His Royal 
Majesty, the King of France, and of His Ma- 
jesty's people, the people of France, I wel- 
come you in our land !" The King, who had 
removed his hunter's cap — for he traveled in 
a hunter's costume — bowed a low bow very 
gracefully. Then he said : ''In the name of my 
people, the people of the Far Country" — such 
was the name of the land from which he had 
come — "who wish to live in bonds of friend- 
ship with His Majesty's people, the people of 
France, I greet you and thank you for your 
kind welcome." The Master of Ceremonies, 
and even those under him, were so impressed 
by the sincerity of the King's speech that they 
clapped their hands and looked much pleased 
with their distinguished guest. Then the King, 
who was covered with dust, was ushered into 
a small but cozy chamber where he made 
ready to be received by the company that was 
awaiting his arrival in the throne room. 

As the bell in the tower struck six o'clock, 
the massive copper doors of the Royal Recep- 
tion Room were swung open, and the Master 
TWELVE 




of Ceremonies' voice resounded with a pleas- 
ant echo : ''Your Royal Highness, the King 
of England, the King of Italy, the King of 
France, Ladies and Gentlemen : His Majesty, 
the King from the Far Country !" Kings, 
Queens, Ladies, Gentlemen, Courtiers — every- 
body came to his feet, shouted and clapped 
hands on seeing the long-heralded ruler. He 
was escorted to a seat of honor, and a long 
procession formed to meet him personally. In 
the receiving line stood the King and 
Queen of France, the King and Queen 
of England, and the Queen and stocky King 
of Italy, with the Master of Ceremonies and 
his retinue in the background. The tall King 
from the Far Country smiled and was very 
hanpy. for it made him happy to meet this 
splendid company of people. And he con- 
tinued to smile, for after the last of the 
process'on, the court fool — a boy attired 
in a snug-fitting suit of many colors with little 
bells attached to it — had passed, he laughed 
heartily. Thereupon he turned to the French 
King and Queen and assured them that such 
courtesy had never been shown him in his 
own country. The Queen was much pleased 
with this remark and said that she and her royal 
husband had looked forward with eagerness to 
the day when they should meet the King from 

THIRTEEN 



the Far Country. They had heard many times 
about him and had read many of the speeches 
that he had deHvered to his own people. They 
had received so much pleasure from the let- 
ters that he had written them during the awful 
wnr that they had just passed through with 
victory. The Queen added, that if it had not 
been for the foresight of the King from the 
Far Country, and finally, for the material aid 
in furnishing a large army of strong young 
men, when their own had nearly all been slaiii 
in the war, and for the food which he had sent 
them in large ships, their France — which was 
so dear to them — would today be a desert ; 
the magnificent palace hall in which they 
were now rejoicing, would be a heap of broken 
stones. For a while the King from the Far 
Country became so serious that a pallor passed 
over his face, like a cloud, but when two 
beautiful blue draperies, like those seen in our 
theatres today, were drawn aside, and a mag- 
nificent banquet hall greeted his eyes, he was 
cheerful again and smiled. Chandeliers 
sparkled from ceilings of blue and gold. The 
soft candle light of golden-armed candelabras 
glow^ed warmly in tall mirrors that lined the 
walls. Rich meats and viands, fruits and 
cakes, and flowers were massed in long rows 
on the banquet tables. From these sparkled 

FOURTEEN 



the precious glass-ware and the royal plate of 
gold on which appeared the imprint of the 
coat of mail of the House of France. 

The feasting lasted long into the night. 
The Royal Guest was called on to deliver a 
speech. He received such applause that it al- 
most turned his head. He remembered this 
incident to the end of his days. He also re- 
membered that he had not drunk any wine 
that night. He spoke in a serious vein, and 
there was only one thing that the fool, the 
boy in the motley colored suit, remembered as 
he sat on a blue cushion on the floor near the 
King from the Far Country. It was : **It Shall 
Not Happen Again," but the young fool did 
not understand WHAT it was that should not 
happen again. After the c-ose of the speech, 
the whole company arose at the long tables 
and as the King of Italy proposed a toast to 
the Guest who sat at the right of the King of 
France, a ring of precious glass resounded 
through the hall, and a good Burgundy wine 
was drunk to the health of the tall King. As 
music played the company moved leisurely in- 
to the spacious "salon," as the ball room is 
called in French, and the fool ever chuckled 
to himself when he recalled how well and 
how gracefully the King with the silver-white 
hair had danced with the beautiful ladies of 

FIFTEEN 



the court. That night the King slept well, for 
he had traveled far that day, and the revelries 
of the evening's entertainment had worn him 
out. 

The next morning a horseback ride over 
the castle hills in the royal party sharpened 
the King's appetite for a French breakfast. 
Here as well as at breakfast, the King of 
England was always closer to the King from 
the Far Country than anyone e^se. In his 
court etiquette, the King from the Far Coun- 
try was never caught of? his guard, so that 
some of the ladies in the company were known 
to have made complimentary remarks about 
his polite manners. 

As a prelude to the second evening's gaie- 
ties, it was arranged to drive to the city of the 
Palace of the Kings — the Capitol of the 
French country. Here thousands of the city's 
common people had massed in the great ])ub- 
lic square around the Fountain of Victory, 
to catch a glimpse of the man of whom they 
had heard so much. It was at first reported 
that he would pass at four o'clock ; the people 
waited patiently and long. They waited until 
five o'clock, until six o'clock — the King did 
not come. Then, a herald, mounted on a milk- 
white steed, and wearing red and gold armor 

SIXTEEN 



^ 



Vke that of a knight one sees m pictures to- 
day, announced the coming of the tall King 
with stirring peals from his silver trumpet. 
A low murmur rose, like a sigh after long 
waiting, and the multitude began to move 
like a body of water in the sea. As the royal 
carriage, bearing the insignia of France came 
into view, a mighty shouting arose, so that a 
mihion voices exclaimed in French : "Long live 
the King from the Far Coimtry !" But there 
was great disappointment. Was not -the tall 
King to speak to the common people from 
the pulpit in the square? The carriage was 
driven through with reckless speed, because 
seme thought he was a friend of the com- 
mon people. The King was not troubled, 
but he thouglit about the warning of the 
witches. The people however, knowing his 
regard for them, went home and put lighted 
candles in their windovv^s in honor of the 
KinsT who had set foot on their country's 
soil. That night the King from the Far 
Country slept in the Royal Chamber in the 
Palace of the Kings. He remembered the 
canopy overhead and the draperies on the 
side of the bed and the four tall posters. Be- 
fore he fell asleep he was looking at that 
SEVENTEEN 



■Hi 



cover overhead. He wondered what the Mas- 
ter of Ceremonies had planned for the mor- 
row. 

He wondered, not because he was hungry 
for more such entertainment. No, he was 
surfeited with it. The purpose that lay near- 
est his heart, the purpose for which he had 
made the long and tiresome journey, that was 
being put off from day to day. He had come 
on a serious mission, as no doubt the other 
Kings had too. But, _ they seemed to have 
forgotten. He was ever alert to remember 
that he was a guest in a foreign land. He 
would wait until the host would suggest the 
time for work. So, he kept silent, and in all 
things acted with utmost regard and with due 
courtesy. 

Yet, after three successive days of enter- 
tainment and feast'ng, he pondered over what 
the three weird Sisters, as he called them, had 
warned him about. Therefore, on the morn- 
ing of the fourth day he invited the King of 
England into his private drawing-room. He 
explained the whole matter in such a frank 
manner that he did not in any degree lessen 
the English King's regard for him. In fact, 
he was so impressed by the earnestness and 
sincerity of the King from the Far Country 
that lie in turn invited the King of Italy and 

EIGHTEEN 



won his good-will over to the embarrassed 
King. Finally, these three agreed to lay the 
question before the gracious host, His Majesty 
the King of France. The Frenchman, always 
keenly alert, knew instantly the direction in 
which the wind was blowing. He ordered the 
whole program of the day upset immediately. 
The Master of Ceremonies and his retinue of 
servants were sccredy happy, but the fair 
ladies and courtiers were thrown into conster- 
nation. Had they not been invited for fully 
three weeks of entertainment? Had not the 
Ladies fitted out costly wardrobes for the 
many days of festivities? These and other 
arguments were heard in the upper rooms of 
the castle, so that from this day the King from 
the Far Country was hated and openly de- 
nounced behind closed doors. 

At high noon of the fourth day, the Four 
Kings sat down in heavy red armchairs about 
a four-cornered red table and started the work 
of finding a plan for which they had come 
together: namely, to stop war, so that the 
boys from England, and the French boys, and 
the little Italian boys with the brown eyes, 
and the boys from the Far Country would 
not have to go to war to be butchered like 
sheep. As the King from the Far Country 
had put it in his opening speech on the night 
NINETEEN 



of the grand reception: "It Must Not Hap- 
pen Again !" 

At the very beginning of the meeting each 
of these four Kings wanted to stop war, but 
each King thought his plan was the best. So, 
they had to find a method of agreeing. For, 
suppose three Kings would have been willing 
to write their names under a covenant, saving 
they would never make war against a neigh- 
bor, but that they would settle a misunder- 
standing by friendly counsel. What would 
be the good, if the fourth King should be 
unwilling to write his name there too? WouM 
not the journey from the Far Country have 
been in vain? And would not another awful 
war happen again? So, when they were hope- 
lessly confused about finding a way by which 
all would come to an agreement, the King of 
England proposed that they decide all plans 
by so many games of checkers. To this the 
French King and the Italian King agreed 
instantly, evidently believing that the King 
from the Far Country knew nothing of the 
game. He did hesitate before he agreed to 
risk the success of his undertaking to mere 
chance of a checkerboard. The Four Kings 
hit upon a plan to play 14 games. Why it 
was that they chose 14, nobody knows, but 
since that time it has been said that 14 was a 

TWENTY 



favorite number of the King from the Far 
Country, just as some people Hke the four 
leaves of a clover flower because for them 
it is a lucky number. 

The Frenchman and the Italian played oppo- 
site each other. Their checkers were colored 
orange and black. The Englishman played 
with the King from the Far Country. Their 
checkers were blue and goM. The white-haired 
King chose the checkers of blue, so that the 
English King played with the gold. When the 
King from the Far Country had made known 
his liking for the number 14, the three Kings, 
whom he called the Big Three, thought nothing 
about it. But when he showed his special lik- 
ing for the blue checkers, and even asked 
whether they \vould object to his making a 
cross on one of his checkers, they actually 
laughed and hinted that he was superstitious. 
Yet, in all this he kept his composure, and 
remembered the warning of the three witches. 
The King of France won the first game 
from the King of Italy. In the other match 
the King from the Far Country lost the first 
game to the King of England. The English- 
man put a mark on the slate with a gold- 
colored stick of chalk. His opponent, however, 
was not ruffled, but in the next game he was 
more alert. They played. The King from the 
TWENTY-ONE 



Far Country lost the second game. The Eng- 
lish King made anothci' gold mark. The ex- 
pression on the white-haired King's face 
changed ; anyone would become uneasy with 
such luck running against him. But he had a 
lot of faith, faith in the belief that the blue 
cross would finally win for him. When the 
third game was finished the English King 
made his third mark with the gold-colored 
chalk. 

Did the King who played with the blue 
checkers think of giving up? Never! For he 
won the next game, and for that he put a 
blue mark on the slate with a piece of blue 
chalk. He won the next, and the one after that, 
and the next mark was number 7. That was 
the last he played with the English King. He 
had beaten him four out of seven games. 

In the meantime the King of France had 
put down six black marks on a white slate. 
The one orange-colored mark was the game 
that the Italian King had made at the very 
beginning of the contest. With genuine French 
pride, the royal winner leaned back in his 
heavy red leathern chair, and waited for the 
white-haired King to put his blue checkers 
on the board. The other two defeated Kings 
watched the quick moves of the French wiz- 
ard. He played swiftly and bewildered the 

TWENTY-TWO 



King frcm the Far Country. What was not 
at all expected happened; the old King won 
the first four, lost the fifth, and with four 
jumps across the board won the last game. 

Thus, the plan of the King from the Far 
Countr}^ to end war was adopted. It was done 
in the following manner: The old King with 
the white hair took a green feather in his 
hand, dipped the quill into the metal ink-well 
and wrote in his own language: "The King 
from the Far Country." The King of Eng- 
land wrote next in his language, which was 
the same as the language of the King from 
the Far Country: "The King of England." 
Then the French King wrote with a flourish : 
"The King of France." When the Italian 
King stooped over to sign he hesitated, laid 
down the green pen and turned about, say- 
ing: "Gentlemen, I don't believe that I ought 
to give away the independence of the great 
Kingdom of Italy without material compensa- 
tions." The other three Kings received this re- 
mark with astonishment, and it was with great 
difficulty that the King from the Far Country 
persuaded the short King of Italy to sign. 
Thus was the work, that had been started by 
him, crowned with victory and he was glad 
to return to the land of his people. 
TWENTY-THREE 




HAT night the King from the Far 
Country rested well, but the next 
morning he was up early, ready 
in his hunter's costume for the 
long journey home. When he asked 
the Master of Ceremonies for an interview 
with his gracious host, he was informed that 
His Majesty, the French King, regretted very 
much that he could not be present in person 
to bid him a farewell on his leave-taking ; that 
he did wish him well, however; and that he 
desired him to carry His Majesty's greetings 
to the people of the Far Country. Finally, 
he cherished the wish that the Sacred Cove- 
nant which the Four Kings had underwritten, 
would meet the approval of his nobles and his 
people. He in turn spoke a word of appre- 
ciation, doffed his hat to the company of serv- 
ants that had provided for his comfort, then 
left the castle door and followed the road, 
without courteous escort, to the outskirts of 
the castle gardens. It seemed to him that he 
heard only the barking of the Danish dogs in 
the royal kennels — the barking of the same 
dogs that had welcomed him on the day of 
his arrival. 

When the traveler came to the farther end 
of the white stone bridge that stood so grace- 
fully over the wooded valley below, he turned 
TWENTY- FOUR 



% 



about and surveyed the whole scene as he had 
done on the day of his arrival. With his 
large blue eyes he drank in the panoramic 
beauty of the landscape, then turned and 
walked through the underground passage on 
the road to the Far Country. He was genu- 
inely happy, because in his leathern scrip that 
was slung over his back, he carried the Sacred 
Covenant. On this scroll the seals from the 
rings of the Four Kings were done in wax. 
At times the traveler undid the scroll and, as 
every one believes, a look of dehght, like a 
light, must have come over his face. 

It was well that the traveler found such 
satisfaction in the work of his hands, for he 
did not know what was afoot in his home- 
land. It was well that he did not. For, at 
the very time when he was reading the articles 
of the solemn agreement, thirty-nine of his 
Nobles were meeting in secret in the House of 
the Nobles. And for what? To defeat the 
adoption of the King's plan to stop war, so 
that he would not become popular with the 
people. They sat in long, flowing, white robes 
with red borders, behind locked doors and 
with fierce jealousy sought to nip the King's 
plan in the bud. They agreed in writing to 
cast the black dice in the black urn ; that, they 
TWENTY-FIVE 



knew, would defeat the Sacred Covenant. The 
talking became so heated and so stormy, 
that cries of "Treason !" were heard from 
the lower tiers of marble benches. One 
of the Nobility, who had been in the House 
of the Nobles many years and who wore a 
grey beard closely cut, delivered a denuncia- 
tory speech against the King. In closing, he 
shouted : "What shall be done with this usurp- 
er who has acted against the wishes of the 
people? What shall be done with this tyrant 
who flouts the Great Law of the Land ? What 
shall be done with this despot who has wilfully 
ignored the authority of this dignified body 
of Nobles?" And then in a voice still louder 
he shouted : "Crucify him ! Crucify him !" 
The Nobles, now keyed to a high pitch by 
his speech, arose as one body and yelled and 
shrieked and applauded, so that the very walls 
of the stone building shook and the chande- 
liers of brass on the ceiling trembled with 
the noise. 

While they were so in this state of frenzy, 
the Noble who had shouted that they should 
crucify him, passed a roll of paper around 
on which all present agreed to cast their dice 
against the adoption of the Covenant of the 
Four Kings. They named it this in sport, be- 
cause they said it had been made by the Four 

TWENTY -SIX 



Kiiii^s and not by the common people. 

During all of this tumult the old King was 
walking out on the highway many miles from 
home. He was as happy as the birds that 
rose from the meadows over which he passed. 
But when he came to the spot where he had 
met the last witch, three haggard forms sud- 
denly appeared from nowhere, like ghosts. 
They were the three women in black that had 
frightened iT'm before. Now they frightened 
him still more, because they spoke not a word. 
They only danced around in a circle, with him 
in the middle, leaning on their crooked sticks. 
They mimicked and sent out a weird cry 
through the valley, so that the King did not 
ki:ow what to make of it. He believed them 
evil spirits and left them, feeling that they 
had made a fruitless attempt to misguide a 
good man. 

Whenever the King returned to his castle 
from a journey, it had always been the custom 
for the Nobles to dine with him at meat. So, 
on this evening, when the King caught sight 
of his. palace, called the White Palace, because 
it had been built out of white stone, he was 
glad. He was happy to be home again. He 
was glad to meet his Nobles whom he would 
tell how difficult it had been to obtain the 
signatures of the three Kings to the articles 

TWENTY-SEVEN 



MM^ 




of the Great Covenant : a solemn agreement 
that the Nobles and the people who had chosen 
the Nobles, had wanted for so many years. 

iiHEN the King therefore entered 
the great banquet hall, the hall 
where a large wild boar's head 
stares the King right in the face 
as he sits at the head of the oaken 
table, he shrank within himself. \Miether the 
King was beside himself for the moment, 
thinking that he was about to be attacked by 
the beast that stared at him from the wall, 
or whether the empty places of three Nobles 
affected him so, no one knows. Some of the 
servants said that they clearly saw him star- 
ing at the empty chairs as if he actually saw 
these men in their accustomed places. In 
spite of this cold reception, the King con- 
trolled his feelings, sat down at the table, 
and drank ale with his Nobles in a merry 
manner. He chatted in his customary way, 
but anyone would understand that it must 
have been an effort. With a sureness he sensed 
that mischief was astir. When he brought up 
the matter of the Great Covenant, one of 
the Nobles even dared to ask him an insulting 
question. The old man felt the sting of it. 
Yet, he answered all questions with a court- 
eous reply. Immediately after the banquet 
TWENTY-EIGHT 



three of the Nobles left, a very discourteous 
act, and one that had not happened in the 
lifetime of the King. Nevertheless, the King 
acted with a grace and with a kindness that 
made some of the younger Nobles feel sorry 
for him. 

Now, while the King was engaged in at- 
tending to matters of state that had accumu- 
lated during his sojourn and while he was 
preparing to consult each of the Nobles in 
person, and to explain the Covenant, some- 
thing happened that will always be recalled 
in the Far Country as a very wicked and 
sinful deed. The Noble who wore a closely- 
cut grey beard, and who had cried out, "Cru- 
cify him! Crucify him!" called a meeting of 
six men whose names all began with the same 
letter of the alphabet. Then as their leader in 
consultation with them, he decided how the 
pet plan of the King was to be broken down ; 
for the King had determined to take a jour- 
ney down the Cross of the Empire, as it was 
called, to tell the people what the Covenant 
meant. This Cross of the Empire was a large 
cross made by two broad highways ; one, run- 
ning for three thousand miles north and south 
through the heart of the Far Country ; the 
other ran for two thousand miles east and 
west and crossed the other road in the center. 

TWENTY-NINE 



It was a fine avenue, smooth and hard, made 
of a bhie stone that had been hauled from 
the mountains in ox-carts. From these two 
main streets other roads branched off, so that 
the King's runners, fleet-footed boys, stationed 
at intervals of one mile along the arms of the 
Cross of the Empire, could carry a paper roll 
with a message written on it to his people in 
a very short time. 

The Noble with the grey beard and his 
Lieutenants — for such he called them — learned 
that the King was preparing a message to his 
people. At once, the Noble with the grey 
beard, whom they called their Captain, be- 
cause they said they w^ere in battle with the 
King, set about to tell the people that the 
Covenant which the King had brought back 
from the King's castle in France, was con- 
trary to the Great Law of the Land. The 
Captain placed one of his Lieutenants over 
each of the four sections made by the Cross 
of the Empire. Each of these four divided 
his section into four parts, and this manner 
of ])arceling out continued until there were 
about as many sections as there are blaclc 
and red squares on a checkerboard. The 
other two Lieutenants of the six whose names 
bes:an with the same letter, remained with the 
Captain and helped him prepare messages that 

THIRTY 



were very skilfully worded so that they would 
have a double nieanino-. Each day one of 
these was given to specially hired runners 
who very ([uickly carried the doubtful mean- 
ing to all parts of the land which the Captain 
and his scpiad hoped would turn the peo])le 
against the King. 

When the King therefore w^as ready to go 
out to meet the people — for he had sent out 
announcements to all parts of the Empire, 
saying that he w^ould travel up and down the 
Cross of the Empire and that all men and 
women who had their country's welfare at 
heart should come from the outer parts to 
meet him — the work of the Captain had been 
done. For, when he had gotten the greater 
length of the road that runs north and south, 
he soon learned that the people had been 
turned against him. The men seemed too busy 
gathering the yellow corn in the fields, and the 
women were engaged in getting the homes 
ready for the winter. He would have com- 
pleted his journey — he rode in the royal car- 
riage drawn by four milk-white steeds — but 
he fell suddenly ill and had to return to the 
White Palace. Some of his friends expressed 
the opinion that the six men whose names be- 
gan with the same letter had secretly poisoned 
him, and so they called them the Poison 

THIRTY-ONE 



\ 



■itt 



Squad. However, this could not be proven, 
and so the King was left alone to fight for 
his life on a long sick-bed. 

When the yearly time for voting on ques- 
tions that concerned the welfare of the land 
arrived, the people came together wherever 
two roads crossed, to cast their votes. They 
dropped white dice into a large white urn. 
if they wanted any measure ; whoever wanted 
it not, dropped a black dice in a large black 
urn. These were then sealed under the King's 
seal and taken to the throne room of the 
Castle. Here, in the presence of the King 
and all the Nobles, the dxe were counted. 
So, when the urns were broken open this time, 
it was found that twice as many b^ack dice 
had been dropped into the urns as w^hite dice. 
The King- was not present, but one of his 
friends was there to see for him. 

This decisive defeat at the hands of his own 
people gave the Captain and his Poison Squad 
so much encouragement that they decided to 
do away with the white-haired King. While 
the people were still incensed about what the 
King;- had done, two Nobles dragged him out 
of the sick-bed, weak as he was, and forced 
him to stand a mock trial. The Judge said 
that there was not enough proof to convict 
him, yet when the Captain w4th the grey 

THIRTY-TWO 



beard jiointed out that the number of the 
black dice showed plainly that the old King 
was a traitor, he let him have his way. The 
eld man was asked whether he had anything 
to say in defense of these charges. He said 
nothing, but asked for a bowl of clean water. 
A servant ran to get it, and when he came in, 
the King thanked him and then stooped and 
washed his hands. Thereupon he turned to 
the Judge and asked him to look at the water 
anrl to teM him whether the washing had 
made it unclean. The water was as clear as 
before and the Judge became almost white, 
because he had pronounced the death sentence 
on an innocent, white-haired man. 

Then a soldier took him by the hand and led 
him out into the stony street. Here a large 
crowd of people had gathered to see the King 
standing wnth bared feet and clad in purple, 
taking up the wooden cross which had been 
made ready for him. The weak King walked 
alone, and the Nobles who followed ridiculed 
him by saying that he was now more lone- 
handed than ever he wished to be as King. 
At one place the condemned King stumbled 
and fell, and it was at this moment when the 
sisters of the man began to weep bitterly. 
But not one Noble came to his aid, so that 
many women who knew him not began to 

THIRTY THREE 



\ 



weep. He struggled as he rose and cont nued 
his journey to the top of the hill. Here they 
made ready to crucify him. 

And they crucified him about the third hour 
in the afternoon. And the sun grew pale and 
lost its light, and a dark cloud like the black- 
ness of night came over the whole land ; for, 
as one of the helpers at the cross said, even 
the stars flickered and went out because they 
coukl no longer look at the horrible crime. 
The moon changed to a copper color, and then 
turned to red. A heavy wind began to move, 
the forests swayed and the ground quaked 
as if in protest of the awful deed. It was 
then that graves opened, and many who had 
been sleeping for centuries arose from the 
dead. Peals of distant thunder followed one 
after another, and bolts of lightning cracked 
like shells bursting on a battlefield, but not a 
drop of rain fell. At intervals the large eyes 
of the butchers gleamed like the whites of the 
eyes of the cattle in the fields. 

And over the head of the King they wrote 
the words of the accusation in French, and in 
English and in Italian, so that those who 
should jxiss that way might know the crime 
for which he had been crucified. On the left 
of him they nailed another to a cross, a young 
man in a soldier's uniform. His crime was 

THIRTY-IOl R 



that the King had been his friend. On the 
right of the King stood a small cross. Here 
was a little girl. A stream of blood trickled 
from her nose and ran over the white garment 
in which she was clothed. She was a sister of 
the slain soldier. She went to heaven half 
an hour after they had driven the nails 
through her little hands and feet. About 9 
o'clock that night the crucified King asked for 
a drink. One of the six Nobles ran and bore 
him a cup of vinegar. The parched tongue 
of the white-haired man touched it, but he 
would not drink. His weary head fell, his 
chest rose heavily, and then he cried bitterly. 
An hour later the Captain with the grey beard 
came up to him and ran a long knife into his 
left side. The broken eyes of the old man 
locked down at him with a stare. And then 
the wounded man collected all his powers, 
and in a voice that made his butchers tremble, 
he cried out: "It is finished!" The King's 
soul winged its silent flight heavenward. 

ANY years have gone since the in- 
cidents of this story happened. All 
the witnesses of that scene that 
night have died, and the bones of 
the murderers have crumbled to 
dust. But the good old men and women of 
the Far Country say that the white-haired 
THIRTY-FIVE 




King comes back once a year on the 12th of 
December; for on that day, the King started 
his journey in the direction of the Red Ar- 
row. Tliey also say that when he comes to a 
town pump where he stopped for a drink, he 
chats with the boys and girls, just as he did 
that first time, many years ago. He does not 
w^alk with the same decisive step ; for, as he 
leaves the children behind, he walks very 
slowly and leans heavily on a crooked stick. 
His left arm hangs loosely by his side. The 
fathers and mothers say that when the grey- 
bearded Noble pierced his side cruelly, the 
soul of the old King was wounded too. vSo 
that even now, when he returns, his left side 
appears to be paralyzed. It takes him longer 
to come to the forks of the road, but as before, 
he stops to put on his glasses, reads the direc- 
tions on the colored guideposts, and limps in 
the direction of the Red Arrow. As soon as 
he enters the left fork, he vanishes like a spirit. 
Some say his soul goes back to hover over the 
place where he died with the soldier and the 
little sister. But they don't know. So each 
year the children of the Far Country wear 
little blue crosses about their necks in remem- 
brance of the good King. And if you could 
be there to look at them closely, you would 
find that the words of the accusation have 
disappeared. 

THIRTY-SIX 



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Copyright 1922 
by 
BYRON J. KING COMPANY 
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 



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